


Cool For The Summer, Lukewarm For The Winter

by yellgoodbye



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), Alternate Universe, Brief Mention of Sukai, Dialogue Heavy, Implied Sexual Content, M/M, Power Imbalance, Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-03-06
Updated: 2016-03-06
Packaged: 2018-05-25 01:04:27
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,171
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6173950
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yellgoodbye/pseuds/yellgoodbye
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sehun is a popular club promoter dreaming of a life in the world of entertainment. He meets a client, Baekhyun, and falls for him instantly. It turns out Baekhyun is the son of a broadcast company CEO and is more than willing to let Sehun take complete advantage of that. With the line between client/broker and lovers blurred, Sehun struggles with choosing between whirlwind romance and his career.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Cool For The Summer, Lukewarm For The Winter

**Author's Note:**

> Updates will be slow, but I don't expect this to have more than 2 additional chapters. Thanks for stopping by :)

Oh Sehun spent his entire childhood being told he was destined for stardom. His parents sent him off to film commercials starting at the age of three and continued until he began middle school, when everything was put on hold so he could study 25 hours a day, 8 days a week. The goal was Sungkyunkwan University, as a theater major, but by the time he started high school, it became evident that rather than Sungkyunkwan being a goal, it was more of a reach for the stars. He just wasn't good at studying. That was okay with Sehun, but his parents were disappointed. They expected a lot from him; they expected a Top Star. Sehun knew he could make it happen, but he also knew he would have to sell his soul for it. It seemed dramatic, but he was okay with that, honestly. 

July 10th was a Friday that began like every other Friday for 22-year-old Sehun: hungover and pissed off because he was hungover. Sehun worked as a club promoter, which wasn’t actually a job, but it was easy to pretend it was. He got paid to party and talk to hot girls and hot guys. Like, who wouldn’t want a job like that? Sehun worked for a few clubs located in Itaewon, closer to Noksapyeong. Sehun loved the vibe of the area; the music was good, and the people were always up for good conversation. He always met up with his best friends and co-workers, Kim Jongdae and Kim Junmyeon (no relation), at Prost. They had shots for 5,000 won, an endless supply of beautiful people to flirt with, and played some of the best house music in the area. It was here, at Prost, on an otherwise normal Friday night, that Sehun’s life finally began to change. You see, Prost is a bar in which Sehun had met millionaire Chinese businessmen and squeezed a year’s worth of his south Mapo-gu rent out of them. It was where he used his elementary school English to convince a middle-aged American professor to buy the most expensive bottle of red wine in the bar. Sehun knew how to get whatever he wanted out of people, even if it was unconscious. Junmyeon used to tell him he had exactly 500 charms and could use them all at the same time.

“Hi, I’m Sehun. Oh Sehun,” he extended a hand to the shorter, slightly older man standing in front of him.  
The man had a face the size of a single fist and the most luxurious looking dark brown locks styled with a bit of gel and parted to the side. They framed his downturned eyes perfectly and told Sehun loud and clear this guy put effort into looking good tonight, as though the dress shirt, tie and black slacks didn’t scream that enough.  
“Byun Baekhyun,” came a firm reply in a rather chipper sounding voice. Sehun knew the name from somewhere, but since he couldn’t quickly figure out where from, he pushed that to the back of his mind. Baekhyun’s handshake almost felt like it happened in slow motion. He slid his hand into Sehun’s, shook lightly, and never broke eye contact. Sehun was instantly enamored.  
“How old are you?” Baekhyun asked the question.  
“I’m 22.”  
“Perfect. I’m 28, but, please, just think of me as 26. I'm not ready for my 30s.”  
Sehun let out a small laugh. “Do you mind if I join you?”  
“Only if you can keep up with me.”  
Sehun wasn’t sure what that meant, but he didn’t question it.  
“Who are you with? You must have come with someone,” asked Baekhyun.  
Sehun gestured over towards a table across the bar where Jongdae and Junmyeon were laughing and drinking what looked like apple martinis with some rather old-looking men in suits. “My friends.”  
“You don’t feel awkward?”  
Sehun furrowed his eyebrows. “About what?”  
“Your friends like each other. Are they together?” Baekhyun took a sip of his dark beer.  
Sehun laughed. “God, no. They’re always like that.”  
“Always flirting? That’s a look of sincere admiration they keep giving each other. If they aren’t together, they should be.”  
“I never thought of them that way. Maybe you’re onto something. Dunno. But what about you?” Sehun asked, twisting the straw in his cocktail into his mouth with his tongue. He hoped it felt more awkward than it looked.  
The two maintained an almost uncomfortable level of eye contact throughout their conversation and Sehun was having a hard time figuring out what Baekhyun’s game was.  
“What about me?”  
“What do you do.”  
“Can you keep a secret?”  
Sehun leaned in a bit closer. “Of course.”  
“My father owns a company worth billions. I don't work for anything.”  
The name clicked. Byun Baekhyun, son of broadcast company MBC's CEO. What was someone like him doing out in Itaewon on a Friday? Sehun asked him this.  
“Why not?”  
Sehun shrugged. “Foreign millionaires come in here all the time, so I expect that. I always figured the Korean ones hung out in those ritzy private bars over in Apgujeong.”  
“Sometimes I like a change of pace, I suppose.”  
“Fair enough.”  
They were silent for a moment, continuing to sip on their drinks and looking around the bar searching for another topic to discuss.  
Sehun turned his body to face Baekhyun’s. “What’s your favorite color?”  
Baekhyun laughed at the sudden outburst. “Is this how you pick up everyone? Not the best flirter, are you?”  
“Answer me.”  
Baekhyun leaned forward a bit and said, “Blue.”  
“Blue,” Sehun repeated back. “What kind of blue?”  
“Baby.”  
Sehun smiled, clapping his hands softly. “That's a good answer.”  
“Why do you ask?”  
“One’s favorite color says a lot about their personality. Didn’t you know?”  
The two moved even closer together, with Sehun scooting his stool right next to Baekhyun. They were close enough to feel the heat coming off each other’s bodies and hear faint heartbeats despite the loud bass blasting through the bar and numerous tipsy conversations going on around them. Or maybe Sehun was projecting his fantasies onto reality. It wouldn't be the first time.  
“What does baby blue say about me, then?”  
Sehun glanced into Baekhyun’s dark, but playful eyes. “Reliable. Cool. Lovable?”  
“Sounds like you know everything about me.”  
“I hope not,” Sehun reached over to sip his drink again, finally finishing it. “That wouldn’t be any fun.”  
Baekhyun smiled. Sehun noted what a great smile this guy had, teeth bright white and aligned flawlessly. “Are you saying you want to know more about me?”  
“Yep.”  
“Okay,” Baekhyun shifted in his chair. “Ask me better questions.”  
“Why are you here alone?”  
“Good one, Sehun.”  
“I’m just curious. Beautiful, rich men like you don’t usually turn up to places alone unless…”  
“Unless what?”  
Sehun pulled his lips into his mouth, a straight line across his face.  
“Unless what?” Baekhyun asked again.  
“You’re looking for a fuck. Are you looking for a fuck, Byun Baekhyun?”  
Baekhyun let out a loud, musical laugh. “That depends. Are you?”  
“I asked you first.”  
“Maybe I am. Maybe I just was hoping to meet someone, have a few drinks, and engage in thought-provoking conversation. And maybe that encounter would end in sex. I don’t come out with a plan. That’s not how I work.” 

Sehun found himself infatuated with Baekhyun in a matter of minutes. The man glowed, oozed sex appeal, and had a way of making every word that came out of his mouth sound like an orchestra playing a song only Sehun knew. This was gross. Sehun never felt like this about anyone; he didn’t allow himself to. Emotions were a distraction and Sehun didn’t have time for distractions. He swallowed hard as if such an action would get rid of the ridiculous thoughts he was having.

“That’s good,” he said after a moment. “That’s a great philosophy to have. But do you mind if I ask you another question?”  
“Go for it.”  
“Come dancing with me.” It wasn’t a question.  
“Okay,” Baekhyun answered promptly. “I’ll go dancing with you.”  
“Just like that?”  
“Why wouldn’t I go dancing with someone as cute as you?”

Sehun got paid for this, he reminded himself. Befriending people and bringing them to the club was his job. That’s all this was, and that was all that was going to happen. Or, you know, not. An hour later, Sehun found himself in the VIP booths, hiccup drunk on Moet, with his tongue shoved down Baekhyun’s throat. 

“Is this too much?” He asked, pulling away but keeping his fingers wrapped around the ends of Baekhyun’s half-unbuttoned dress shirt. “We can stop if you want to.”  
“No,” Baekhyun sighed. “You talk too much.”  
“We have that in common.”  
“I just want you to kiss me again,” Baekhyun said in a low tone, one hand on Sehun’s thigh and the other pulling him down for a kiss.  
Sehun resisted. “I suppose this is a bad time for me to tell you I’m celibate.”  
Baekhyun gave him a look of confusion. “Celibate?”  
“Yeah,” said Sehun, adding a bit of space between them. “I mean, like, emotionally.”  
“Emotionally celibate?” Baekhyun laughed. His hand was still resting on Sehun’s thigh. “You are one weird kid, Oh Sehun.”  
“I just—I don’t want this to be it. Like, between us.”  
Baekhyun just looked at him, listening.  
“What?”  
“You can keep talking.”  
“You just told me I talk too much.”  
“This time, I want to hear what you have to say.”  
Sehun sighed. “Look, I’m drunk, and I’m being stupid. I just don’t—I don’t do this often. I talk to guys; my job is to flirt with as many people as I can. But this is different. You’re just really, really different.”  
“I have an idea,” Baekhyun added suddenly. “It's crazy, and you can absolutely reject me, but consider it first."  
“Sure,” replied Sehun, skeptical.  
“I’ll be your sponsor.”  
“My—what?”  
“I have more money and power than I know what to do with. You want to act, right? Be a celebrity? Have a nice place to live? I can give you anything you want. No strings. Unless you want them.”  
“I want the strings. I want everything.”

Sehun met Baekhyun again the following Tuesday afternoon at a small café in Yeouido. Baekhyun said it was near his office, as if Sehun had forgotten he was the son of a broadcast company CEO. 

“What do you want? I’ll buy. I’m your sponsor now, you know.”  
Sehun’s eyes got big. “How can you say that out loud like that?”  
Baekhyun smiled brightly. Sehun took note that in the daylight, Baekhyun resembled the summer sun even more. “I like the way it sounds.”  
Sehun blushed slightly. “Me too...but don’t go around yelling about it.”  
“I won’t,” Baekhyun replied, sticking out his pinkie to make a promise. “But when you get famous, it’s gonna be hard for me to keep quiet. I like to boast about my accomplishments.”

Sipping on the sweet caramel macchiato Baekhyun bought for him, Sehun found it hard to focus on the logistical things he had to digest. Having a sponsor wasn’t half as easy as he thought it was going to be.  
“There’s only so much I can do to land you roles. You should sign up for acting classes, network, run to auditions on your own. My job is to spread the word about a fresh-faced, gorgeous rookie named Oh Sehun. It’ll catch on eventually. Sometimes it happens quicker than others.”  
Baekhyun was especially attractive when he was serious, Sehun thought. His eyes got darker; his downturned mouth seemed to turn almost pouty. Sehun was suddenly aware of how close in age they actually were because he looked so young in the daylight.  
“Ok. I haven’t acted in awhile so, I can take classes? Should I go somewhere specific? Like, a school in Gangnam? Should I join an agency?”  
“I already took care of everything. You’re in with Key East thanks to a favor their president owed my dad. There’s an acting academy near the old SM building you can take classes at. I’m here for you, Sehun. I work for you, remember that.”  
Sehun looked at him skeptically. “What do you want from me, then? I can’t possibly just take from you and never give anything in return.”  
Baekhyun smiled at him again. Sehun wished he would stop doing that. “I want your attention. I want you to be around, available. I’m quite lonely these days, but when you’re around, I feel like a kid again. I like it. I like you.”  
“I like you, too,” Sehun replied softly. He liked Baekhyun a lot, actually.  
“But is that really it? You’ll just give me whatever I want? As long as I’m…around?”  
“As long as you’re around. I’m already having fun. I hope you can start to have fun, too.”  
A shy smile against the straw of his coffee and Sehun began to think this whole sponsor thing could work out after all.

**Author's Note:**

> I started writing this late last summer after hearing the song $ponsor by Zion T and Haha but life happened. Life is still happening, but I'm really attached to this story now and I'm excited to continue! Lots of love to B for always being my guinea pig, the great conversation about this amazing ship and the encouragement that I'm going in the right direction. All the places mentioned in this fic actually exist and I've actually been there so if it seems overly detailed in that regard, it's because I miss the city and word vomited.


End file.
